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'BioSimilar' Drug Approved to Treat Certain Types of Anemia

TUESDAY, May 15, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Retacrit (epoetin alfa-epbx) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as the first "biosimilar" to the anemia drugs Epogen and Procrit.

A biosimilar, derived from a living organism, has been proven to be "highly similar" to a product that's already been approved by the FDA. It's also been shown to have no "clinically meaningful differences" in its safety, purity and potency than the prior approved drugs, the agency explained Tuesday in a news release.